


The Highwayman

by fryingpanofdoomwrites



Series: Inspired By... [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-07 06:39:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4253199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fryingpanofdoomwrites/pseuds/fryingpanofdoomwrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gavin's favorite story was that of the Highwayman, and his beloved.</p><p>(Inspired By...The Highway Man)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Highwayman

**Author's Note:**

> The Highwayman-Loreena McKennitt

Gavin the Free was a bard.  He traveled around the county telling stories and singing songs to those of any stature.  He knew thousands of stories, but his favorite story to tell was that of the Highwayman and his beloved.  Children would gather around his feet as he twisted the tale of the Highwayman.

________

Michael was after a prize, he heard tales of a large stash of gold and it was going to become his.  He only needed to see his beloved for luck.  He rode quickly to her home, her father's inn.  He was dress as a gentleman, as he always did.  He traveled by night, the moon sailing upon clouds, and it's light guiding his way.  He came upon the inn and stopped under her window.  He lifted his whip and knocked upon her window.  No answer.  He then whistled their tune, the melody that was being played in the inn when they first locked eyes.

The window was thrown open and he could see her, Lindsay.  He couldn't help but to smile looking upon her beauty.  Her red hair was being threaded between her fingers as she braided the strands for bed.  She leaned out the window and smiled, "To what do I own the pleasure my lord?"

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize to-night.  But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light; Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, then look for me by moonlight, watch for me by moonlight, I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."  Michael said as he stood in his stirrups.  They reached toward each other, but fingers barely touched.

Lindsay leaned back, and began to work the knot out of her hair, before leaning back out the window and letting Michael press his lips against the fiery red tresses.  She watched as he rode away, the moon lighting his path as he road away from his love.

She did not sleep that night, worried about her beloved.  He did not return by dawn, nor noon.  She only grew more worried as the sun began to set.  Her love did not come home, but a red coat troop did.  They took over the inn, drinking her father's ale, and belittling him.  Lindsay tried to make them leave but they took hold of her and took her to her room.

They tied her up at the foot of her bed, straight against the foot board.  Her mouth was gagged and they took a musket and bound it pointing at her heart.  She could see out her window, the road that her beloved would ride.  Lindsay made her decision, and as they left her to "keep good watch" she writhed her hands behind her back, reaching for her goal.  It took long, the ropes cutting her wrists, and her hands grew slick with sweat and blood.  But she finally found it; the trigger of the musket.  She claimed it.

Then came the sound.  _Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot!_   The sound of her love racing down the road.  _Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot!_   How could the red coats not hear the sound.  Lindsay knew he would be killed should he return.  She heard sounds, the laughter stopped.  They would listening.  She sat up as much as she could, eyes on her window, at the road.  The horse grew closer, the sound of the red coats readying.  She took and breath and she moved her finger.

The musket shattered the moonlight.  The red coats found her in her room.  Head bowed over her breast, drenched with her blood.

Michael turned his horse and charged away, not knowing where the shot came from, but wise enough to go away from it.  It wasn't until the dawn that he heard the news.  Lindsay had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

He saw red, the red of her blood.  He charged back to the inn.  He screamed in pain as he rode to avenge her death.  He did not succeed.  He was still dressed as gentleman as the red coats shot him down on the highway.  His last thoughts were of his love.

_______

"And still on a winter's night they say, when the moon rides the clouds, the highway man comes riding to the old-inn door, and his love waits, tying a braid into her fiery hair."

The story of Michael and Lindsay was always Gavin's favorite.  Maybe because they shared a love he hoped to have, or maybe because he has visited the inn, and had heard the Highwayman come riding, but who exactly knows.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired By is a series of stories and one-shots based on songs.


End file.
